Welcome to IowaPianoGuy.com

home of Haag Piano Service.

Whether it be at a concert hall,

home, church, school or business --

I find the process of tuning your pianos to be

an enjoyable experience.

Almost as enjoyable as playing them

when it's finished.

Find out why you can trust your piano to my care.

(Read more)

Hi, I'm Steve Haag, RPT. I have been servicing pianos in the Des Moines and Central Iowa area for over 40 years.

On each piano, from spinet to concert grand, in addition to tuning for PRECISION and STABILITY, I also plan extra time for looking after the piano's other needs, including minor repairs, tightening screws and bench bolts, pedal function, and voicing the hammers for improved tone quality, etc., if these things can be done in a reasonable period of time.

I plan roughly 1½ hours for the tuning itself, and a half hour or so for these other services, if necessary.

Appointment Page

Why use a Registered Piano Technician (RPT)?

The RPT behind my name stands for REGISTERED PIANO TECHNICIAN, which means I am qualified by the Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) (www.ptg.org).

Through this international organization I have been tested by my peers and I have passed a series of three rigorous examinations that assess the knowledge and skills required to tune, maintain and repair pianos.

About

TUNING

To a piano technician "tuning" means a very specific operation in which the piano is brought into precise harmony with itself at a given pitch. Since 1978 I've performed approximately 20,000 tunings.

For the first 20 years of my career, I tuned solely by ear using an electronic pitch instrument to set the first string. I now have incorporated a state-of-the-art digital tuning device as an adjunct to my ears. I believe that the combination of well-trained ears and sophisticated electronics results in the best tuning possible.

Piano manufacturers recommend tuning at least twice per year. In the extremes of climate here in the Midwest, that is certainly a necessity for most pianos. To tune twice a year, I recommend three to six weeks after the humidity around your piano reaches 42%, both spring and fall. If you do not require tuning that often, I recommend once a year the same time of year.

If your piano has not been tuned for a number of years, it may have lost over-all tension on its strings. Every year that goes by, because of temperature and humidity fluctuations, the piano drops in pitch. Please understand that the conditions which cause a piano to go out of tune are in effect whether it is played or not.

When I find a piano that is more than eight cents flat, I will need to "raise the pitch" of all the strings so that they are close to the desired pitch before I can tune the piano. There is a separate charge of $55 for this service.

Tuning

Service

REGULATION -- TOUCH

Action regulation is the term for adjusting the approximately 8,000 moving parts inside so that the piano plays properly. This is critical to what is referred to as touch. Touch is one of the factors that give the pianist the ability to sound unique. Some common symptoms of a piano action that needs regulation are: the piano is difficult to control in softer playing, notes are difficult to play repeatedly, a double-strike sound or blubbering hammer, uneven touch response from one note to another.

Pianos go out of regulation for various reasons: normal wear on parts, expansion and contraction of wooden parts, warpage, loss of strength in tiny steel springs, etc. The cost of regulating the action depends on the amount of use the piano has had and the condition of the hammers and other parts. Severely worn action components and hammers may require that the action mechanism go into the shop for reconditioning or even replacement of parts. But many pianos can be regulated right in your home in about a half to a full day.

VOICING -- TONE

Voicing the piano, or tone regulation, is the final artistic touch to an otherwise perfectly conditioned instrument. It is the process of improving the tone that is produced when the hammer hits the string.

Voicing involves softening or hardening the hammer's felt by various means. This allows the piano's full potential, the full range of tone colors it can produce, to be used and enjoyed. If your piano sounds brash or metallic, or if it lacks power or brilliance, an expert voicing job may correct the problem and give you an instrument capable of meeting your artistic needs.

Link About Voicing On PTG website (opens in new window)

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HUMIDITY CONTROL

Extreme changes in humidity are responsible not only for fluctuations in tuning, but also for a great amount of structural and mechanical damage. You can counteract all of the negative effects of humidity by installing a climate control system right inside your piano, the Piano Life Saver System from Dampp-Chaser.

I have these systems available and would love to protect your piano by installing the appropriate system into it. I am constantly amazed at the number of people who invest a substantial amount of money in a piano, but hesitate to spend a relatively small amount on necessary humidity controls to protect it.

Click here to see Dampp-Chaser website (opens in new tab)

Click here to see my report on how humidity affects pianos

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Humidity

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MORE ABOUT ME -- Steve Haag, RPT

My interest in piano technology and artistic skill has been passed down from my late grandfather, Corest C. H. Haag (started tuning pianos in 1912); and my late father, Robert D. Haag. That's why I say "Third Generation Piano Tuner and Technician".

I attended the MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis, MN in 1978. There I received formal training through their Piano Tuning and Repair course.

The RPT behind my name stands for REGISTERED PIANO TECHNICIAN, which means I am qualified by the Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) (www.ptg.org). Through this international organization I have been tested by my peers and have passed a series of three rigorous examinations that assess the knowledge and skills required to tune, maintain and repair pianos.

Being involved in a PTG chapter allows for continued professional development. Not only do we present technical learning sessions for our own chapter; we also attend regional and national conferences to sharpen our skills as well as share them with our colleagues.

For two years I taught the Basic Piano Tuning and Repair course at the Des Moines Area Community College. I have also taught various technical sessions at chapter meetings of the Piano Technicians Guild.

I now service pianos all over Des Moines and Central Iowa including, but not limited to: Adel, Altoona, Ames, Ankeny, Boone, Clive, Carlisle, Colfax, Dallas Center, Dexter, Earlham, Granger, Grimes, Grinnell, Guthrie Center, Huxley, Indianola, Johnston, Madrid, Maxwell, Monroe, Nevada, Newton, Norwalk, Panora, Pella, Perry, Polk City, Prairie City, Redfield, Runnells, Story City, Stuart, Sully, Urbandale, Van Meter, Waukee, West Des Moines and Winterset. Thank you all for welcoming me into your homes!

About

TESTIMONIALS

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Testimonials

To Make an Appointment

Piano manufacturers recommend that pianos be tuned at least twice a year. If you don't require tuning that often, I suggest once a year on the same month each year. Let me know if you would like to make an appointment for a date in the future and I will schedule an appointment in advance. (Read more)

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